Best way to use rapid rooters

[alltatup]

Ya never know what those little seeds are gonna do! That's great news.

[Aloner]

Nothing succeeds like success!

[abadtrip]

Congrats it's a nice felling not to kill your babys. I hope your grow goes well.

[siggy]

Just to finish the story, got 10 more seeds. Used a collection of information and ended up with all 10 germinating. Used the 'paper towel method' with a little warmth, and 8/10 sprouted within 24 hours, and the other two a couple days later. The next day the roots grew very fast-- some almost a centimeter in 24 hours! Put them in rooters, in a humid chamber at about 80 degrees F, then when the they seemed to want some light I put them in the tent. I still have a hard time holding back with the water, afraid I'll open the flap in the morning to see them all dried up... but I'm trying to let at least the surface get dry.

Then so my surprise, two of the 'dead' white widows-- planted too deep, about 2-3 cm down, popped up among the new ones. I have five, 5-gallon fabric pots with two seeds per bag- now with 3 seeds in a couple of those bags. The widows took over 3 weeks to show their heads after their near-drowning-- a good lesson about patience!

Thanks again for the help!

[Aloner]

Lol skill, she says

[alltatup]

Aloner well that's proof right there that they work for germination. I could have imagined that I read that, I might have been high... Not luck; skill.

[Aloner]

5 out of 5 popped for me in Jiffy pellets in a covered tray on a heat mat; all still going strong. Could be first-timer's luck, though.

[alltatup]

I read somewhere that the jiffy things weren't good for cannabis germination...

[D.A.A.S.69]

Never used the trays either ,I just keep them damp and in a warm,dark place .Real easy.

[GreenDragonRon]

Defintely don't need the Rapid Rooter tray. I'm a newb and I've gone 10 for 10 germinating so far with Rapid Rooters.

[Zativa]

Unfortunately I had a hard lesson on this topic not long ago. Tried to start some 'Lambsbread' seeds and watched the first six sprout, then drown in Jiffy pellets because I watered them when they looked/felt a bit dry. There is a section in the forums about growing difficult Sativas which is relevant here. Once you get them past a few inches tall, they turn into very hardy small trees. But getting them that far can be an exercise in frustration (and also expensive at $8-10 per seed). Second try succeeded, but still lost a few.

I had better luck with larger GroDon cubes which don't hold water so aggressively. Plant the seeds just under the top surface (which dries quickly), and add water with a dropper rather than by pouring it on. The difference between moist, damp, and wet is very hard to judge. Also a heating pad definitely seemed to help on that second try.

RapidRooters are designed to be used with their plastic pots, which are exactly the right size. If you buy one, you probably need the other.

[alltatup]

Summer of 2016, when I started my first grow: I can't tell you how many seeds I killed before I got two germinated. You will definitely get a feel for it after a while.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Yeah siggy, that's what you were doing wrong, drowning them. I just keep the RR, damp an in a warm place. Yeah I remember them asking what are all the little holes in the seats.

[GreenDragonRon]

I've never had a problem with Rapid Rooters; I soak my seeds for 24 hours, stick them pointy side down into the Rapid Rooter, cover the hole with a piece of Rapid Rooter and plant in the final fabric pot. I cover the Rapid Rooter with a delicup and stick the fabric pot into my grow tent. Sprout is usually out in 36 to 48 hours.

[siggy]

I just bought the RR plugs, without a tray- and I was under the impression that they were supposed to sit in a pool of water. So I had them about 1 cm deep in water the entire time. When I would touch the rooters they were like a water-filled sponge. By the end of the week they were swollen to twice their original size... so I assume that was the problem.

I have more seeds coming, but I was looking forward to trying white widow. Maybe I'll do 3 with the RR's and 3 with paper towel this next time. I actually used to germinate cannabis seeds using paper towel in the 1970s, back when we never had a shortage of seeds! One $25 ounce usually had about 50 seeds per bag... the bench seats of all our parents' cars had the burn holes from those things going off like popcorn!